Drone

Ideas and innovations in Indian classical music
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MadhavRayaprolu
Posts: 63
Joined: 18 Jan 2018, 13:04

Drone

Post by MadhavRayaprolu »

I have been using a new kind of electronic tanpura and it is really beautiful. It is called PureTones. They customize the tanpura sound for your chosen raga by using key notes of the raga and harmonizing them.

My favorite one is Bihagda here: https://puretones.bandcamp.com/
It is fairly versatile and you can probably use it for other ragas also that have the Shuddha Gandhar (G3), Shuddha Nishad (N3) and P. Thought I’d share. Listen to it with a pair of headphones and sing to it. It’ll take some getting used to but it is just lovely.

msakella
Posts: 2127
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16

Re: Drone

Post by msakella »

This instrument is not at all usefull as a drone. I feel very sad as you are unable to find the dissonance of this instrument. amsharma

uday_shankar
Posts: 1467
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:37

Re: Drone

Post by uday_shankar »

I agree with Akellaji's observations. I listened to a few ragas, including Bihagda and I find the dissonances very disturbing.

The kalapramanam of the the little dissonances in the Tambura are subtle and natural. When such dissonances are stretched artificially with digital technology it creates a seriously bad aural effect in the context of Indian classical music.

This kind of "drone" may be good for some new age music or perhaps old school classic rock of some kind. In those tonal contexts there is much dissonance (even the equally tempered scale is completely dissonant, never mind).

msakella
Posts: 2127
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16

Re: Drone

Post by msakella »

Very sadly many of the Carnatic musicians are not aware of the dissonance of their own Tambura, the Drone.. amsharma

msakella
Posts: 2127
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16

Re: Drone

Post by msakella »

In our country we have a very old saying, ‘while the Hindusthani musicians have been used to sing in Shruti the Carnatic musicians have been used to sing with Shruti’. Very appropriate all-time saying which could very easily be observed by many of us singing the compositions or Panchama-varja-ragas along with Panchama-string also in the Tampura.

In this context I also wrote some posts previously in our forum but, as usual, all our musicians have always been used either to turn a blind-eye or a deaf-ear about which they won’t like to follow or discuss. All like to follow traditional methods only but none of them is ever ready to openly discuss at length the logicalities or the illogicalities of our methods which abundantly help or do harm to our own kids. Thus all our South Indian musicians are very very backward in using their Tampuras with nice consonance of the respective Ragas. Interested persons can go through my videos of AMS Raga Svara Shruti Vinodini ‘https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... vWgO0EArzZ’. amsharma/msakella

Vayoo Flute
Posts: 104
Joined: 15 Jan 2018, 00:53

Re: Drone

Post by Vayoo Flute »

I listened to a few of the raga-specific drones and I agree that they are awful and not suitable. Firstly the sounds are not pleasant to the ear. Secondly, there is a lot of dissonance. I think the dissonance arises chiefly from using equal temperament rather than just intonation. This is clear in the drone for bihagda which contains the Ga. The antara ghAndAram is the note that is most out of line when using equal temperament. Another reason for the dissonance is that you should not overcrowd the drone with too many swaras. You should only include an important resting note for the particular ragam - for example the Ni for kalyANi (as is common with many Hindustani musicians).

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